Twenty-nine-year-old Megan Esposito got to work early on Monday to make sure she could take a personal day. She said she recently moved back to hometown Cleveland and she's ''never leaving again.''

Bars throughout downtown had filled by 9 a.m., and lines at coffee shops snaked out the door and onto the streets.

The open areas accessible to the public around the rally stage were jammed with people.

High-end convertibles parked in rows near Progressive Field waited to carry Cleveland's conquering heroes past their adoring fans. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving will be riding in style in Rolls-Royce sedans.

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8:15 a.m.

A parade held somewhere else for more than a half-century is rolling through Cleveland.

No longer the butt of jokes, it's a title town again.

Hundreds of thousands of fans, some arriving Tuesday night to camp on the sidewalk for the best view, are lining the downtown streets to cheer superstar LeBron James and the Cavaliers, who made history by overcoming a 3-1 deficit to beat Golden State in the NBA Finals and end the city's 52-year championship drought.

Cleveland fans young and old are partying like its 1964. This is the celebration James promised when he returned to his home state two years ago.

The Akron-born James was named Finals MVP, and his third title solidifies his place among the game's greats. He was already Ohio basketball royalty - King James - and he's now the one who stopped a half-century of sports suffering.